Many and several “sorry” but really do not support or replace a manufactured defective wheel.

My rear wheel the Sapim CX-RAY spokes were laced (assembled) incorrectly. The Epic 5.6 rear wheel has all spokes that were bent and assembled on the wrong side of the hub.
These spokes are the upgrade selection offered by Tokyo Wheel.
When climbing hills the rear wheel noise sounds like your gear selection is clicking.
I would expect that a reputable company would replace a defective product – but Tokyo Wheel has no inventory – this is the Tokyo Wheel response…“We build to order and have done for the entire history of the business”
Tokyo Wheel has directed me to wait 2 weeks for them to ship replacement spokes and nipples. Remove the rear wheel, remove the rear cassette (another cost). Then drive 65KM round trip (at my time, gas and expense) to my Local Bike Shop (LBS) deliver the rear wheel and parts, then return again to the LBS in several days (another 65KM). Pay the $100 + TAX or the labour to relace the rear wheel. Pay to install the rear cassette and wheel.
**Only GOD will hope that no issue occurs with the new nipples, spokes and the truing of the rear wheel as Tokyo Wheel will now blame the LBS!!!
– This is the Tokyo Wheel response…
“The quickest fix is if your LBS has them or you can find them locally to get them and then have your LBS relace the non drive side of the rear wheel. If you cannot source locally, it will take a little longer but we can send you new Sapim CX-Ray straight pull spokes and SILS spoke nipples to replace all of the non drive side of the rear wheel. Then you can have your LBS remove the old ones and relace with the new ones. Of course we would reimburse you for that expense”
I was extremely displeased with this response so now…
“The Operations Manager is now involved to make sure you are happy with the resolution to the lacing issue. Will be back to you soon with next steps. Thanks”
And again the same offer days later…
“We’re happy to pay for a relace, and for replacement spokes/nipples on the rear wheel. We can send these out to you if you like, or we can reimburse you if you’d rather source them locally”
Three (3) LBS that I contacted have all stated that they cannot believe that the rear wheel has not been replaced as this is a manufacture defect!!
Please please caution if you consider saving some dollars and placing an order for carbon wheels from Tokyo Wheel… “You get what you pay for” – meaning less cost but lower product quality and limited warranty support.

Thanks for writing this post. It’s really important that we hear your feedback and how bad your experiance is going. As founder and CEO, I really appreciate when people like you, take time to write well thought-out negative feedback. Usually inside of negative feedback, is some way for us to improve our processes, to make sure that occurrences of similar negative experiences are eliminated So thanks for that.

Here is what happened from my point of view.

We send you a product with an error in final assembly. It’s a totally unacceptable situation.

3 people on our team messed up. 1. The wheelbuilder laced the wheel incorrectly, he’s being terminated from the company. 2. The Quality Control Technician, didn’t catch the mistake, he’s also being terminated from the company. 3. It seems like our customer support guys didn’t do a good job helping and communicating to you. Do you think they should be terminated too?

I’d like to know what part of the experience was the most angering for you, so that we can address that with priority.

Was it the way you were communicated to, by our team. Were they not friendly, or didn’t explain things with a courteous amount of thoroughness?

Was it the policy about the warranty repairs. i.e sending replacement parts, instead of a whole wheel?

Was it the amount of time and back and forth communication, that was most frustrating?

Let me know so that we can learn from this and make things better.

Next, id like to clarify our policy with you, so that we make sure you understand what your options are, and we can move forwards.

We have a policy that we call “Local Support Warranty”. It’s been in place for 6 years, with great success. Here’s how it works. If there is any issue with your wheels, we first get some information from you to determine what the issue is. In 90% of cases, the issue will be one or more components of the wheel, but not all the components of a wheel. So in most cases, we sent out replacement components, and ask you to have them installed by your favorite local bike shop. We then reimburse you 110% of the cost of that local bike shop’s servicing. In some cases (like your’s with a sapim cx-ray spoke), where a component is fairly common, we also give you the option to get the component from the local bike shop, and reimburse you 110% for the parts and labor. With this policy you can get warranty service from your favorite shop, have the issue resolved without any wait time for parts shipping, and be fully reimbursed plus an additional 10% as compensation for your troubles.

The alternative of shipping the product back to us, followed by us receiving and inspecting it, then shipping a replacement, takes too much time in my opinion. That’s why we do the Local Support Warranty.

Our team should have given you the option to ship the full wheel back, if you really wanted to, i think that’s the part of the process we need to improve.

Next Steps, Moving Forwards:

Would you like to get this whole thing resolved by the Local Support Warranty, or would you like to send your product back, and have us send you a replacement (this will take more time)?

Let me know, so we can fix up this bad situation, and get you out riding. Thanks again for the negative feedback, I really appreciate it!

I think Toykowheel is doing it right, this is what I read in the warranty terms when I bought the wheel. Unless your wheel has been damaged together with the spokes then maybe they will then ship the new wheel accordingly. Just my point of view. Not sure you will get reimbursed for the transportation though as it is considered a consequential cost.

Hey @blackrockb52, thanks for commenting. Above all other policies, we have an unwritten policy to make sure each customer has a good experiance with us. That means, we want to do whatever it takes, to make you happy with the outcome, and get out riding.

It sounds like you’d prefer to send in your wheel, and have us do the warranty resolution that way. It’s no problem. We just want you to be happy.

@kane is the team member in-charge of your case. He’ll send you a message, and you guys can continue the resolution privately. Let the other forum member’s, know how everything worked out in the end. And if you have any other complaints, make sure to post them here, so they can have public scrutiny. It’s helpful for everyone. Thanks again!

Hey @blackrockb52, just checking in on you. How was your experience since your last post? Did we do a good job since then? Is there still anything that you aren’t satisfied with? If so, we’ll certainly do everything possible to transform your experience into an awesome one. Thanks again for posting!

James
GREAT SUPPORT!
Update on the rear wheel with incorrect lacing. This caused a noticeable - annoying clicking noise when climbing steep mountainous hills.
A replacement wheel was shipped to me and the LBS changed the cassette and remounted the rear wheel and aligned the Di2 settings.

I have had 124 miles and 1430 ft of elevation without any issue.

No concern with noise at all at this date.
The replacement wheel arrived in 10 days

Thank You for your ongoing concern and attention.

The initial wheel is packed and ready to ship to Grand Rapids Michigan USA

Awesome @blackrockb52 ! I’m really happy to hear that we were able to turn your negative experience into a positive one. Again, my apologies for the situation happening at all, but at least we’ve got things right again. Is there anything else we can do to make the experience even better for you now? Thanks again for posting!

James
I have observed that the screening (TOKYO WHEEL) and the other symbols are not very durable. The letters and symbols lift at the corners of each letter.
I have been careful with use, no cleaning fluids, store the bike indoor, no excessive temps.
The front wheel has some “lOKO WHIEL” as an example.

This a great comment. Actually I’m aware of this, and we’ve begun transitioning to a new material, called ‘Substance’ Vinyl (http://www.substanceincorporated.com/). This is a super high quality decal material. We’re transitioning all our decals to this material (except in cases where special colors and finishes are necessary, that can’y be achieved by the Substance Vinyl). How about I send you some replacements when we have the new decals 100% in production? Do you want white or black tokyowheel decals?

Thank You James for the offer and please forward the new technology decals when available…BLACK

My comment about the decals is to actually promote the TokyoWheel especially when our team stops at the Flying Monkey LBS/coffee shop.
There are usually 75 - 120 cyclists and of course the carbon wheel is always observed.
I would like the name to be visible.